Beyond Shooting Practice – Additional Firearms Training Steps

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- This is another one that is different for everybody. In the beginning, I went to the range every two weeks and put a couple hundred rounds at paper targets.

I also practiced dry fire in my house (with no one home, because, you know, it feels kind of silly – even though it isn’t) at least twice a week.

This was mainly drawing, firing and firing while moving either backwards or quartering away from the target. Later my Son bought a SIRT training pistol – a full weight replica of a Glock 19, with a removable mag and a two stage laser trigger – and I practiced with that the same way.

Beyond practice, you need to read, Read, READ! So many books that help you to understand concealed carry, guns, tactics and practice.

Read them. Study them. Practice them. When you’ve read a book, sign the inside of the cover and date it. Why? Because if you ever have to defend yourself at trial, what you know and don’t know may be the difference between going home to he family and living in a hell called prison for the rest of your life.

At trial, you are able to give evidence only to what you knew at the time, and how it may have affected your lethal force response. If you shot a man who had a knife and was 18′ feet away, being able to explain to a jury what the Tueler Drill is and the part it plays in JOA – Jeopardy, Opportunity and Ability – will go a long way to helping yourself.

If you didn’t know this information in advance, you would not be able to bring it up at trial. Keeping records of what you read can be a great help to yourself and your attorneys, should the need arise.

Join gun forums and take classes when you can. Holster drill classes, shooting classes, self defense classes. Subscribe to magazines. You can never learn or know too much.

In the end, one fact is always clear to me – What I know, isn’t enough. You can never sit back and think you’ve got it covered. You must practice. You must read. You must advance your skills whenever possible.

My new book – Concealed Carry and the War on the Second Amendment, a collection from the New Gunner Journal – is now available at Lulu.com, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. If you have any questions about Concealed Carry or are sitting on the fence, this would make a nice Christmas present to learn about the lifestyle and those who live it.